Entry & progression
Optional endorsement. Governing regulation: 46 CFR 11.428.
What it requires
- 360 days of service on sail or auxiliary sail vessels, per the NMC checklist against 46 CFR 11.428.
- Plus either the Coast Guard's auxiliary sail examination module, or an approved course in lieu of it.
The 360 days sit inside your total service, not on top of it. Half of the near-coastal Master's 720 days, served under sail, earns the endorsement — you are not being asked for a second career.
Why it is examined separately
A sailing vessel does things a motor vessel does not, and the examination reflects that:
- She heels, which moves her centre of gravity outboard and changes her stability picture continuously with the wind.
- She cannot go directly to windward, so passage planning, pilotage and collision avoidance all have to account for tacking.
- She has right of way over power under Rule 18 — but not when overtaking, not in a narrow channel under Rule 9, and not under Rule 13. Sailing masters who believe otherwise are a recognised hazard.
- Under sail and power together she is a power-driven vessel — masthead light at night, cone point-down by day.
- Her rig can fail, and a dismasting alongside is a very different emergency from an engine failure.
WARNING — Sail does not mean right of way Rule 18 gives a sailing vessel priority over a power-driven vessel — except where Rules 9, 10 and 13 otherwise require. A sailing vessel overtaking a motor cruiser gives way. A sailing vessel under 20 m shall not impede a vessel confined to a narrow channel. And a sailing vessel with her engine on is not a sailing vessel at all. Three exceptions, and all three are examined.
Stability under sail
The heeling moment of the rig is the sailing vessel's defining stability problem. Righting moment must exceed heeling moment, and heeling moment climbs with the square of the wind speed — so a gust that doubles the wind quadruples the force on the rig.
Reef early. The decision to shorten sail is always cheaper made ten minutes before you need it than thirty seconds after, and on a vessel carrying passengers who do not know what a knockdown feels like, it is the whole of the job.
Passengers on a heeling boat
A motor vessel that heels ten degrees has a problem. A sailing vessel that heels ten degrees is working normally — and your passengers do not know the difference. They will be frightened by something routine, and unbothered by something that should frighten them.
- Brief the heel before you leave. Tell them the boat leans, that it is normal, and that you will tell them if anything is wrong.
- Seat them low and to windward — it is both safer and more comfortable, and it helps your stability rather than hurting it.
- Watch the leeward rail. A passenger who moves to the low side to look at the water is standing at the point of least freeboard on a heeling boat.
- Brief the boom. It is at head height, it moves fast, and it is the single most common injury on a sailing charter.
The boom has hurt more paying passengers than the weather ever has. Say the word "gybe" out loud, every time, and mean it.